REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XLVII 



The following table shows the receij)ts of shad from the Potomac 

 Eiver, at Washington, D. C, by weeks dnring the season, from 1887 to 

 1897. The data were furnished by Mr. Gwymi Harris, inspector of 

 marine products: 



Centkal Statiox, Washington, D. C. (S. G. Worth, Superintendent). 



During the summer the superintendent was detailed to make an 

 investigation in the neighborhood of Weldou, N. C, with the view to 

 determining the extent to which the river shrimp, Palwmonetes exilipes, 

 enters into the food of the bass and crappie, and to arrange for the 

 extension of its geographical range as a natural food for trout and 

 other edible fishes. They were found in many of the ponds and streams 

 of Halifax and Northampton counties, and shipments were Sent to 

 Washington, D. C, WythevHIe, Va., and Keosho, Mo. It was learned 

 that they form an important part of the natural food of bass, crappie, 

 and other predaceous fishes, and that they can be successfully shipped 

 in pails of water by express for distances requiring not over seven hours 

 time. Part of the consignment sent to Washington were put in a trout 

 stream near Leesburg, Va. An examination of the pond in Washington 

 during the month of May showed the presence of egg-bearing shrimp. 



As in former years, the fish-cultural work included the distribution 

 of the year's production of fish from the Fish Commission ponds, the 

 hatching of shad eggs collected on the Potomac River, and of a few eggs 

 of the ([uinnat salmon, brook, rainbow, Loch Leven, and lake trouts, 

 which had been transferred from other stations during the winter for 

 the purpose of illustrating fish-cultural methods. 



